The story: The ongoing Quran burnings in Denmark and Sweden are roiling Iraq’s political landscape. Sadrists and the rival Shiite Coordination Framework each sense a political opportunity and have used the incidents to jockey for advantage. Meanwhile, the episode has raised questions about the Iraqi government’s willingness and ability to protect diplomats after protesters torched the Swedish embassy.

The coverage: Iraqi asylum seeker Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Quran and trampled an Iraqi flag outside the main mosque in Stockholm on June 28. The act was timed to coincide with the major Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

• Appearing outside the Iraqi embassy in Sweden’s capital on July 20, Momika kicked the Quran and stamped on an Iraqi flag. He also wiped his feet on images of the Sadrist Movement’s leader, Muqtada Al-Sadr, and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
  
  
• In a third protest action, Momika...